This document analyzes Lewis University's water usage and develops a plan to reduce its water footprint. It finds that the residence halls are the major water users on campus, consuming over 8 million gallons per year. To decrease water usage, it recommends focusing on reducing shower water consumption in the residence halls. This would save the university money while also reducing stress on the local aquifers from which Lewis draws its water supply. Reducing the water footprint is important to help local aquifers recharge and avoid issues like subsidence.

1. An Analysis of Lewis University’s Waterprint
Thomas Cornes
Dr. Jerry Kavouras, Associate Professor of Biology
Introduction
Fresh water is a resource that is becoming
increasingly scarce. It is assumed that fresh
water in Romeoville is plentiful due to Lake
Michigan being so close.
Romeoville, and Lewis University, get their fresh
water from wells in a heavily stressed aquifer
system, according to the Illinois State Water
Survey.
Water stress occurs when water is withdrawn
from a source faster than it can be replenished.
Lewis University must do its part. There are
several small changes that our institution can
make that will have a large impact on our
waterprint. Waterprint is defined as the amount
of water consumed throughout a day as direct
water usage and as the water used to produce
products consumed throughout the day.
Ultimately, a lower waterprint for Lewis
University will mean the local aquifers can
recharge faster and reduce the stress due to
less water being drawn out.
Purpose
The goal of this project is to collect water usage
data for Lewis University, determine the major
users on campus, and develop a plan to reduce
the amount of water used by campus.
Pre-program exit
interview results
•Work hours: too many or
not what was expected
•Poor orientation
•Lack of communication
between departments
•Poor leadership
•Benefit package
Methods
Water usage reports were collected from the
Romeoville Public Works Water Department for
all buildings on campus that Lewis University
pays a water bill. Reports were organized by
month and building. The mean water usage per
day was calculated.
Sources
Environmental Health, Science, and Policy |
OnEarth Magazine. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://archive.onearth.org/
Illinois State Water Survey - Home, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.isws.illinois.edu/
Romeoville Public Works. (n.d.). [Lewis
University Water Consumption Report
10/2/14 - 10/2/15]. Unpublished raw data.
Conclusion
Nearly 8,179,400 gallons of fresh water was
used by the residence halls during the year, or
68,216,196 pounds, or 17,054 four-thousand
pound cars. Clearly, student residents are the
major source of freshwater use at Lewis
University.
The most effective way to decrease the school’s
waterprint is to target water usage in the
residence halls. By decreasing the water
consumed by student residents, the school will
save money as well reduce the stress on the
aquifers it withdraws freshwater from. Then, the
local aquifers will be recharged, the school will
save on money, and the local wildlife will benefit
from the replenished aquifers.
Observations
13,751,100 Gallons of water was used by
Lewis during the time period studied. This is
equivalent to the water used by 275,022
people bathing.
Shiel Hall: Shiel Hall average water use for
the entire year was 4,885 gallons/day – in
August 2015 it was 18,180 gallons/day.
The average water use for the month of
August is 35,042 Gallons/day - so Shiel Hall
used 51.8% of the total water used on campus
in the month of August.
Results
Recommendations
Currently, Lewis University is replacing washing
machines with high efficiency versions, which
will help decrease our waterprint.
Showers are the major source of water use in
the residence halls – a reduction here will have
the greatest impact on campus water use.
The Big Picture
The ISWS reported that by 1980, heavy
utilization of groundwater in Northeastern
Illinois caused deep bedrock aquifers to
decrease by more than 850 feet since the
1860’s. The water pressure aquifers exert on
the land above has a direct effect on the
elevation of the land above. When aquifers run
dry, subsidence occurs (sinkholes).
Aquifer levels are directly affected by the
amount of water all of us use everyday – Lewis
University has the responsibility to help
maintain our aquifers we all share and now is
the time to start fulfilling this responsibility.
Figure 1. Components of an aquifer.
1 – Level of Saturation
2 – Bedrock Layer
3 – Water Table
Figure 2. Fresh water used by Lewis
University from October 2014 to October 2015.
All fresh water was matched in volume by
sewage. Sewage water costs more to pump
than does fresh water. Data from Romeoville
Public Works Water.
Figure 4. Geospatial data representing the
location of all the nearby freshwater wells near
Lewis University. Data extracted using the
Illinois State Water Survey’s(ISWS) Geographic
Information Systems software.
Figure 3. It is important to note that though
Lewis University uses a relatively small amount
of water in the grand scheme, we are still a part
of a larger aquifer system – The Mississippi
Watershed.